Your coworkers think you are… lucky to be alive! I did a lot of mountaineering when I was younger.

What sideline or hobby do you have? I am an avid bicyclist. I bike between 4,000 and 5,000 miles per year.

One thing you would change about yourself: The color of my hair (gray)

What really sets you off? Pettiness

One product, trend or fashion you’d like to see return: ’70s music, or pop music before rap

People in high school thought you were… a serious student.

Strangest job you ever held: Looking for uranium in the tap water of hunting lodges in Northern Wisconsin

Dumbest thing you ever did: Didn’t beach a canoe, so it blew away from a very small island in a very large lake

Proudest moment: The birth of my children

Closing comment: I’m very proud to be a part of the museum. Love that Harvard, Yale and Amherst all have [natural history] museums and Williams doesn’t!

Kate Wellspring

Brief bio: I grew up in N.E. and went to Bard College. I worked in San Francisco and then moved to the Valley to go to UMass for grad school (anthropology). When I finished my degree, I came here.

Date started at Amherst: As a casual in January [2003] and then in a regular, benefitted position in October 2003

Current position: Collections Curator, Beneski Museum of Natural History

Various positions held at Amherst: I’ve served on the ACPP Committee (2 terms), the Wildlife Sanctuary Committee, ABC and, most recently, the Presidential Search Committee.

Funniest experience at the College: While taking down the dinosaur skeleton at the Pratt Museum, we found a matchbook in the wall. It turned out that the people who had put up the skeleton had put the matchbook in the wall with all of the names of those working on the skeleton. It was from the 1940s.

What do you splurge on? My mortgage

Favorite thing to do outside of the College: I co-teach a dance class (hip-hop) for teenage moms in Holyoke. It’s volunteer work. I started as a dance major in college.

What really sets you off? Senators … vilifying those people in our country who have the least power and calling it patriotism

One product, trend or fashion you’d like to see return: Return to horse-and-buggy travel

People in high school thought you were… I was supposed to give the commencement speech and I slept through it. … I’ve never been to a class reunion.

Strangest job you ever held: In grad school, I bartended and worked (briefly) at a bar in Chicopee where most of the patrons spoke Polish.

Dumbest thing you ever did: Wrecked a car that I loved because I didn’t replace the timing belt

Proudest moment: When I was asked to be on the Presidential Search Committee

Closing comment: Hey, all of you AC employees: Come to the natural [history] museum and see our cool exhibits!

Alfred Joseph Venne, aka “Fred”

Brief bio: 25+ years of public school service in the Northampton area. The most recently held position was as the Principal for the Williamsburg Public School. Past Executive Director of a social services agency. Youth sports coach [of] soccer, swimming, cross-country, basketball, to name a few.